NY coffee and cocoa settle lower, sugar inches up

July 16 (Reuters) - Arabica coffee futures closed lower
Monday as the market dropped from levels viewed as overbought.
U.S. cocoa also eased.
Raw sugar futures changed direction late in the session and
closed up a shade. All three markets dealt in thin volume.

1:59 PM SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
CHNG CHNG VOL
Sugar OCT 22.77 0.04 0.2% 22.32 22.92 46,336
Sugar MAR 23.22 0.02 0.1% 22.80 23.27 23,193
Cocoa JUL 2197 -13 -0.6% 000 000
Cocoa SEP 2197 -19 -0.9% 2,176 2,236 9,919
Coffee JUL 182.55 -1.9 -1.0% 180.60 186.80 8
Coffee SEP 183.95 -2.15 -1.2% 183.05 188.20 10,084

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG
ICE SUGAR 86,983 143,113 95,223
ICE COCOA 17,476 27,225 21,664
ICE COFFEE 17,066 27,864 21,987

RAW SUGAR
* Benchmark October raw sugar futures settled up 0.04
cent at 22.77 cents a lb.
* Late speculative buying lifts raws into positive territory
- brokers.
* Market volume Monday on the light side and running about
40 percent under the 30-day norm - Thomson Reuters data.
* Market slipped earlier on light investor and speculative
sales - brokers.
* Weather in top producers Brazil and India dictating market
direction.
* Brazil and Indian weather will be "primary" factors in
sugar market - Mike McDougall of brokerage Newedge USA.
* El Nino weather pattern later in 2012 could lead to
further rains in Brazil and further disrupt monsoon rains in
India.

ARABICA COFFEE
* September arabica futures fell 2.15 cents, or 1.2
percent, to finish at $1.8395 per lb.
* Market viewed as overbought after hitting a three-month
high last week on heavy short-covering - traders.
* Lack of follow-through short-covering allowed the market
to fall in thin dealings - traders.
* Price fixing by producers in Brazil and Colombia helped
prevent deeper losses - traders.
* ICE certified arabica stocks jumped by 5,266 bags to
1,690,982 bags on July 13, the highest since December 2010.
There were a heavy 69,771 bags pending grading - ICE data.
* Speculators cut their net short position in arabica
futures and options by 4,759 lots to 12,362 lots by July 10 -
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Committee data Friday.

COCOA
* Benchmark September cocoa futures eased $19, or 0.9
percent, to close at $2,197 per tonne.
* The market eased, despite the firm sterling against
the U.S. dollar that often provides support, as it fell along
with the early pressure felt in the commodity complex - traders.
* Cocoa futures continued to digest the sharply lower
European grind data that was released on July 12 - traders.
* North American second-quarter grind data will be released
post-market on Thursday - ICE.
* In the week to July 10, speculators trimmed their net
short position in ICE cocoa futures and options by 4,601 lots to
2,190 lots, the smallest position in nearly a year - CFTC.
* Cocoa grindings in Malaysia rose 3.3 percent in the second
quarter.
* Steady rainfall and ample sunshine in Ivory Coast's main
cocoa growing regions last week have kept the top grower on the
path towards a healthy start to the upcoming main crop -
farmers, analysts.

For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets:
Sugar futures/spreads Sugar cash prices
Coffee futures/spreads Coffee cash prices
Cocoa futures/spreads Cocoa cash prices

RELATED NEWS AND OTHER TOPICS
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(Reporting by Marcy Nicholson and Rene Pastor)